The development of home automation has resulted in on-going investigations for increasing the intelligence of components composing the electrical energy distribution network, particularly in household.
For that purpose, searches were conducted for using the functionalities provided by the Internet network in order to increase the intelligence of the electrical appliances which are likely to be connected to the electrical energy distribution network.
European patent EP1217475 describes a device and a procedure of remote control of appliances based on the integration of a web server in the appliance and the connection of this server to an (ISP) Internet Service Provider. But this patent, and many others, does not suggest to incorporate the IP communication within the electrical energy distribution network, and particularly the different components composing such networks.
European Patent EP1349340 also describes a process for controlling a network of household appliances including a shared IP unit allocating private IP addresses or port numbers respectively to a high number of household appliances connected to the energy distribution network. Again, with this patent, the distribution network and its constitutive components such as circuit breakers, switches, power outlets etc. . . . remain totally outside the IP communication protocol.
Both examples which are mentioned above clearly illustrate, among others, the long and extensive research and investigations which are conducted in order to increase the possibilities of communication of the household appliances being connected to the electricity distribution network, particularly with the Internet network.
But those examples, although clearly demonstrative of the strong interest for increasing communication between the appliances, leave completely aside the IP communication within the heart of the electrical energy distribution network, and the particular components constitutive of such networks.
Some attempts were made to introduce communication within the heart of the electrical energy distribution network, but only at the costs of complex and expensive installations, and closely depending on the technical architecture set by the manufacturer, thus compelling the end-user to purchase all components at a single supplier.
A first example of such a system is the so-called IN-ONE BY LEGRAND™ which is manufactured by the company LEGRAND. This system allows the integration of a module to control the “scenarios” of switch-on or off of lights. That system is based on the use of electrical switches which can be remotely controlled by means of Powerline Communications (PLC) or by radio wave . . . . In practice, there is used a specific switch which is manually controlled or controlled by PLC or, alternatively, a specific box is combined with the conventional electrical switch for the purpose of achieving a manual switching circuit (via the switch positioned in front of the box) or by PLC. This system shows to be a significant solution for increasing the flexibility of remote control of electrical appliance and further shows the great interest of the manufacturers for improving home automation. However, such solution does not allow the design of a full and programmable solution of the different components and modules constituting the electrical panel in the house.
Another prior art solution is marketed by the company HAGER under the brand TeBis . . . . This solution is based on a set of communicating switches of bus output modules for controlling the lighting and achieve lighting and management of the distribution of electrical energy.
Communication between those elements is performed by radio or through a specific bus consisting of crossed wires allowing the transportation of a communication protocol called KNX. A special association process is performed by remote control in order to facilitate association between control switches and output models of lighting. The known TeBis solution is arranged for allowing communication of the control switches through an intranet network of the Internet network by means of a specific box which is a gateway allowing access to a pre-existing LAN . . . .
Although all those solutions provide significant improvement to home automation, and clearly show the critical interest of manufacturers for such field, it should be noticed that the known solutions do not integrate the IP protocol within the electrical energy distribution network. In the Tebis system marketed by company HAGER, only the gateway receives its own IP address which, by the way, is provided by an external router which is thus required. By no way, this system allows automatic distribution of IP addresses within the electrical energy distribution network and between the different components composing such network and, hence the implementation of a DHCP server at the heart of this network.
Furthermore, those systems require that significant modifications and work be brought to the electrical panel of the end-user because, on one hand, new cables and wires have to be incorporated (bus wires specifically) and new modules (in particular the said gateway) must have their housing in the main electrical panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,759 describes the organization of a network called DNP or Distributed Network Protocol within a distribution network of electric power with a series of sub-stations, each having a LAN (Local Area Network). Again, this patent does not describe the organization of an architecture based on the IP protocol within a network of power distribution for a domestic installation.
Patent WO03058481 pursues further the realization of a network type DNP allowing the communication of information concerning local devices of power distribution and includes the setting of a standard Web server in such a network. Here too, the constitutive devices of the network of electric power distribution do not communicate through the use of the IP protocol, thus taking benefit of all the functionalities offered by such protocols. In addition, those realizations do not concern the installation of a domestic network at the end-user house.
Patent EP1062648 describes the realization of a remote access to electrical meters using the TPC/IP suite. This realization does not describe nor suggest the integration of TPC/IP protocol directly within the domestic network of power distribution and in particular in the different components or modules (circuit breakers, plugs, lights connections devices . . . ). In patent EP1062648, we notice in particular that meters communicate via a local network bus called CEBUS.
Solutions that have been just briefly described and discussed show interesting approaches for developing home automation for the end-user. Nevertheless, while all those prior art techniques clearly demonstrate the high interest shown by the manufacturers, those solutions remain complex and expensive and, moreover, leave the end-user totally dependent on the technical choices of one particular and “proprietary” architecture provided by one manufacturer, which is a serious disadvantage when it comes to achieve—and maintain—the installation of an effective and long lasting electrical energy distribution network.
The invention has for its objective to overcome these drawbacks.